that the Australian would get the first pink jersey. Savoldelli, however, set by far the best time at the intermediate time checks and was 11 seconds better than McGee at the finish, winning the stage and all four jerseys on the podiums afterward. Savoldelli was the only rider to finish the course in under eight minutes. McGee expressed disappointment after the stage that the last man had beaten him, but also recognized that Savoldelli had turned in the considerably better ride. For his part, Savoldelli was surprised by his victory, and felt poised to challenge for a third Giro victory. Stage 1 result and general classification after stage 1 Stage 2 7 May 2006 — Mons (Belgium) to Charleroi Marcinelle (Belgium) The first road race stage was flat and raced on relatively straight roads, with a very wide final . It was a simple course expected to produce a mass sprint finish. The arrival site of Marcinelle demonstrated why the Giro had come to Belgium – 2006 marked the 50th anniversary of a mining accident there that killed 262 people, including 136 Italians. Intermittent rain fell throughout the day on all parts of the course. The maximum advantage attained by the four breakaway riders (Gabriele Missaglia, Beñat Albizuri, Mickaël Delage, and Arnaud Labbe) was 6'18", and they took the intermediate sprint and the climb on offer on the stage. With to go, the time gap was reduced to three minutes. At this point, race leader Paolo Savoldelli's team gave up the pacemaking, as the teams of the sprinters were more invested in making a timely catch of the leading group. At the mark, the peloton was all together again, and and , working for Alessandro Petacchi and Robbie McEwen, respectively, alternately tried to take control of the race. Petacchi's last leadout man Alberto Ongarato did not maintain the pace that had been set before him in the race's final , leading to a chaotic sprint to the line. Petacchi started his sprint with to go, but McEwen, who had been holding his wheel in the last , came around him for the stage win. Olaf Pollack and Paolo Bettini also managed to out-sprint Petacchi, who was upset to finish just fourth. Savoldelli, celebrating his 33rd birthday, retained the race leadership. Stage 3 8 May 2006 — Perwez (Belgium) to Namur (Belgium) Although the profile for this stage was quite flat,